In the Art Room: The Art Show Part 1

A display of kindergarten abstract masterpieces. These paintings were created at the very beginning of the year during our line and color study. We coated them with glossy Modge Podge to help the colors pop.

Well, my helper moms and I can finally sleep in! The school-wide, hang-up-and-display-everything-we've-made-all-year art show is ooooo-ver. I'd like to thank the kids for their hard work, my amazing mom-helpers who put in countless hours hanging masterpieces, my former student teacher Lauren who worked for hours on the day of the show and my dear mom who drove down from Indiana to help and cheer us on. It was a huge success...one that will be hard to top next year.

I thought I'd share with you the two-dimensional artwork from the art show. This is a photo-heavy post...and just the tip of the masterpiece-iceberg. Stay tuned for the upcoming episodes of In the Art Room: Clay Display and, not to be missed, our Walk Like an Egyptian program performed by our Super Second Grade Stars!

But for now, sit back and enjoy these fabulous works of art. I'll provide a brief description of each. Feel free to leave a comment with any questions or thoughts below. Enjoy!

These sweet kindergarten self-portraits were on display along side photos of the artist. The self-portraits were created on flesh colored construction paper with oil pastels. These were cut out and glued on top of bubble printed paper the kids had made. Hair was then painted. Finally, construction paper that we had cardboard printed was placed on top as a shirt, complete with collar and name tag.

Kindergarten display of collage cats, winter landscapes, and fall printed trees.

For this kindergarten winter landscape, we began by learning about tints and shades and painting the sky and snowy land. From there we collaged trees and houses. Finally we used metallic oil pastels to enhance the sky, the trees and the house.

Because I have my classes for 1/2 hour, I had to think of a quicky project for my wee little ones. They were able to create this butterfly relief sculpture in just the nick of time.

Egyptian collage landscapes by my first grade artists. You can read all about this lesson here.

The idea of using the first grader's weaving for the body of a crocodile originally came from pinterest. But art teacher Lauren came up with the genius idea to create crocodile puppets. Here's the lesson.

Love those teeth.

The first graders also created these abstract collages at the beginning of the year. We did some leaf rubbing and painting. From there, we tore the painting into strips and glued them down to a larger piece of white paper. This was a great lesson on positive and negative space.

In the second grade gallery, we have our circle loom weavings which we attached our Sculpey beads to, our Egyptian profile portraits, leafy prints and our golden tree paintings (not pictured). I also have the students write an Artist Autobiography every year that is placed along side a framed photo of the artist.

Leafy Print Lesson can be found here.

Our third grade gallery includes our sarcophagus, foil leaf reliefs, cardboard weavings and our haunted trees. Not pictured are our photos and bios.

You can read more about our sarcophagus lesson here.

A close up of one of the third grader's cardboard weavings. This year we tried our hand at adding beads to our weavings. We attempted to hide the cardboard with some scratch art paper designs.

I hope this artist is able to find a good place for tacos while she's artin' it up in Paris!

When painting our sarcophagus-es (sarcophagui? We eventually took to calling them our sarcopha-dudes), some of the early-finishers tried their hand at optical illusion drawing. This lesson was pulled from pinterest and was so simple, that I just wrote out the directions on the board and the early-finishers followed the steps.

Fourth grade awesomeness: framed photos and bios, Mona Lisa group project photo (seen on the far left) Egyptian prints, cartouche, moon-light paintings, woven pouches, and Egyptian god portraits,

Egyptian god portrait lesson here.

The kid's all time favorite thing in the whole wide world to do: weave! Once the fourth graders get a taste of weaving, there is no turning back. I have one sweet girl who has woven 12 pouches now for her family members in Mexico.

All the time and hours spent are immediately forgotten when you get a sweet note like this the following day...love it!

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In the Artroom: Monet's Waterlilies

Me: You painted both snails the same color...you didn't want to use variety? Student: Well, it's a Mama Snail and a Baby Snail. No one will know that if they are different colors. Me: (mental head slap) You are a genius.

This week back to school has been so exciting! Everyday, I walk into my room, open the kiln and gasp at the awesome creations of my students. This week we've been glazing the clay projects completed before spring break and the students have been totally rockin' it. I thought I'd share with you this kid-approved lesson.

I was told that the Tooth Fairy likes to chill in Monet's Garden on her off nights.

We've been learning all about the artist Claude Monet and just finished completing our Mammoth Monet Mural before break. During that unit of study we also chatted extensively about ponds and waterlilies. The kids were thrilled when told they were going to create a clay waterlily of their own.

I shared the photos of Monet's Garden with the kids that I snapped while at the Moma in March. The best question yet, "Where did his mom get paper that was so big?"

A lovely lily close up.

Pac Man vs. Sponge Bob's Buddy Patrick.

 For this project, you'll need the flowing:

• An Army of Amazing Moms
• Tons of clay
• A class set of clay mats
• Skewers
• Waterlily and Lily Pad templates
• Mayco Wonderglaze
• Toothbrushes
• Cups of water

Okay, about that first thing on your list, I'm serious about that one. Let me tell you why: I have 1/2 hour art classes. Many teachers wouldn't even attempt this kind of crazy with such short classes. But with an Army of Amazing Moms, anything is possible. Now, I have The Best Moms in my room, but I'm sure you've got some pretty fabulous ones in your school just dying to help out. All you have to do is ask, it's really that simple.

This lesson is a version of one originally created by one of the most incredible art teachers I know, The Clay Lady. Not familiar with her? Watch her demos on youtube, she rocks.

 To create the waterlilies, the kids need to do the following:

1. Pound out clay to Oreo thickness and trace a waterlily and lily pad as seen in top clay photo.
2. Bend two points of the star upward (as shown above), over lap and smoosh clay together.
3. Continue bending points of star upward, overlapping and smooshing until entire lily is complete. It should look like a closed flower.
4. Use fingertips to gently bend flower pedals outward.
5. Toothbrush the bottom of the lily and a place on the lily pad and attach.

This artist used the back of her brush to create "perfect dots" and stripes on her bumble bee.

After that, I explained to the kids that they could add one or two creations to their lily of their liking. I did a little snail and insect demo but they had much bigger ideas. "How do you make a hummingbird? The Toothfairy? A Tarantula?"

A frog chillin' at his pad.

I told them this...anything can be created out of clay with three things: a sphere, a slab and a coil. So, stop and think about what you want to create and decide which of those three things would be the best for the job. And, just look at this variety! They got it.

I was told that this is a one-eyed version of Sponge Bob's buddy Gary. Meow.

Now let's chat about glazing. This Stoke and Coat glaze by Mayco is where it's at. The colors are vibrant and the consistency is very fluid. I dole out the glaze in styrofoam egg cartons along with cups of water for brush cleaning.

A first grader created this hummingbird. I know, right?

 Before glazing, we have a nice loooong chat about my two rules:

1. Do not glaze the bottom (it'll stick to the kiln).
2. Do not layer different glaze colors.

Another hummingbird.

Because of the countless choices of colors, some kids go a little bonkers and just want to glaze their project to death. I give them free reign to add patterns like dots and stripes but I stick hard and fast to that no-overlapping-twenty-colors-on-your-piece rule.

And the end result? Nothing short of adorable, says me. And my new friend, Happy Buggy-Eyed Snail.

Thanks for dropping by!

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